War Diary

29th April - 1st May. Rushden Festival of Transport, Northants.

A cold, wet and windy May Bank Holiday saw the start of Ops for 2000.

A turnout of 13 was an omen for things to come. Whilst it was not raining upon arrival, recent downpours left us wondering if renaming ourselves the "Summer of 1916" would have been more appropriate... It could have been Ypres or the Somme, Mud everywhere, waterlogged ground... and worse to come. After tents were pitched and the camp arranged under close scrutiny of Capt Stevenson, the rains returned. Then there was little to do other than sit and watch those not fortunate enough to have nice military vehicles dragged through the heavily rutted, muddy ground to their allotted parking spaces. Corporal King cranked up his 300 watt charging set and the "Summer of 44 Battery Charging Service" was born. The inclement weather prevented us displaying any equipment other than the 4 Airborne Jeeps, 2 Airborne trailers, 1 10cwt GS trailer, 1 Mortar Trailer, 1 Chevrolet C15A and 2 Welbikes we had in the vehicle compound. Our normal arena display was cancelled, along with many of the other displays, and vehicle movement orders were suspended. Several visits to the traders turned up some nice goodies, Private Bellamy unearthed a Royal Tank Regiment Trophy from the 1920's, Private Bell a 1941 T handled Shovel and Corporal King a 1939 Pick-axe and a nice bakelite shaving set.

 
6th - 7th May. 21st Independent Parachute Company Annual Dinner, Newark, Notts